Grace Period

Downtown Hagerstown holiday shoppers will get a 30-minute grace period for expired parking meters starting Monday, Dec. 8. City Council members unanimously approved the program on Tuesday. This will be at least the second year for the grace period, said City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman. The grace period will last through Friday, Dec. 26, according to a memo from Police Chief Dale J. Jones to Zimmerman. A note will be left on the windshields of cars parked at expired meters notifying drivers of the 30 extra minutes they've been granted before a parking ticket is issued, officials said.

Downtown Hagerstown holiday shoppers will get a 30-minute grace period for expired parking meters starting Monday, Dec. 7. This is the third year in a row the city has provided the grace period, said City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman. The grace period will last through Friday, Dec. 25, Zimmerman said. Notes will be left on the windshields of cars parked at expired meters notifying drivers of the 30 extra minutes they've been granted before a parking ticket is issued, he said.

New $15 add-on stickers allowing Washington County landfill permit-holders to dispose of unlimited yard waste are expected to become available after July 19, a county official said. In the meantime, Clifford J. Engle, head of the county Solid Waste Department, encouraged permit-holders to go ahead and buy new regular landfill permits, as this year’s permits expire Friday. “If a resident purchases a new permit for the normal rate, until the yard waste permits come in, they can bring in their yard debris on that permit during the grace period,” Engle said.

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Liquor could be served earlier on some days in Washington County and later on others, under legislative requests made by the Washington County Restaurant and Beverage Association. The association also is asking for a grace period at closing time so that county bars can have 15 minutes to clear their establishments of customers. "Basically what we're saying is to clear up a gray area," Lou Thomas, spokesman for the beverage association, said Friday during a presentation of proposed legislation to the county's delegation in the General Assembly.

Convicted killer speaks on own behalf CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Gary L. Rock represented himself and briefly took the stand Thursday in his effort to get first-degree murder convictions dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Rock, 43, twice convicted for the 1977 shooting deaths of neighbor Wilbur Brookens and Fayetteville Volunteer Fire Co. Chief James W. Cutchall, is trying to prove the prosecution concealed evidence that could have led to charges being dismissed after a federal court overturned his 1978 conviction.

That little white ticket under your windshield wiper might seem like an annoyance, but to the City of Hagerstown, it a way to raise the revenue needed to maintain parking facilities. Tickets for parking violations in the city brought in $164,099 during the 1999 fiscal year that ended June 30, according to city Finance Director Al Martin. That was $14,383 more than parking ticket revenues for the 1998 fiscal year, and almost double the $85,774 paid by parking violators in fiscal 1995.

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Many Maryland residents were surprised this week when they discovered they could still make local calls by dialing seven digits, despite numerous warnings from Bell Atlantic that doing so would be impossible. Consider it a sort of technological stay of execution, but only a temporary one. "It's not going to last. That's one reason we told (customers), 'Please, don't think you can stick with the seven-digit dialing,'" said Bell Atlantic spokeswoman Sandra Arnette.

gregs@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - A measure expected to be adopted next week will force anyone who wishes to build a home within the City of Hagerstown to pay $8,500 that will be used to pay for new school construction or expansion. Home builders who do not sign a contract to build a new home by midnight tonight would be subject to the fee, and must pay the amount at the time a building permit is issued. Those who do sign contracts by midnight must receive building permits before Feb. 1 or they also will be subject to the fee, city officials said.

As a hopeless romantic, I fear the day when the venerable highway toll booth becomes a thing of the past. Ah, but how we will become misty eyed, recalling those halcyon days of idling in a sea of traffic, with horns blaring, fumes rising up through the floorboards and vehicles cutting each other off, just to gain an extra two car lengths. But it's going to happen, as sure as freight trains lost their cabooses, as sure as Sears lost Roebuck. A story in The (Baltimore) Sun last week announced that the State of Maryland is on the brink of doing away with toll booths on its bridges and tunnels, and moving toward an all-electronic collection method.

Tim Rowland Herald-Mail columnist I want all you kids out there at Williamsport High to know that I am behind you 100 percent in fighting the school dress code. One word of warning though. Twenty years from now, when your own kids find your yearbook in some old trunk and start picking you out in all the old photos, you are going to WISH there had been a dress code. I say this because 25 years ago when I was in grade school, the big fashion items were hideous, fringed part-suede, part-vinyl vests that looked like sort of a cross between Daniel Boone and Disco Duck.

As a hopeless romantic, I fear the day when the venerable highway toll booth becomes a thing of the past. Ah, but how we will become misty eyed, recalling those halcyon days of idling in a sea of traffic, with horns blaring, fumes rising up through the floorboards and vehicles cutting each other off, just to gain an extra two car lengths. But it's going to happen, as sure as freight trains lost their cabooses, as sure as Sears lost Roebuck. A story in The (Baltimore) Sun last week announced that the State of Maryland is on the brink of doing away with toll booths on its bridges and tunnels, and moving toward an all-electronic collection method.

New $15 add-on stickers allowing Washington County landfill permit-holders to dispose of unlimited yard waste are expected to become available after July 19, a county official said. In the meantime, Clifford J. Engle, head of the county Solid Waste Department, encouraged permit-holders to go ahead and buy new regular landfill permits, as this year’s permits expire Friday. “If a resident purchases a new permit for the normal rate, until the yard waste permits come in, they can bring in their yard debris on that permit during the grace period,” Engle said.

gregs@herald-mail.com HAGERSTOWN - A measure expected to be adopted next week will force anyone who wishes to build a home within the City of Hagerstown to pay $8,500 that will be used to pay for new school construction or expansion. Home builders who do not sign a contract to build a new home by midnight tonight would be subject to the fee, and must pay the amount at the time a building permit is issued. Those who do sign contracts by midnight must receive building permits before Feb. 1 or they also will be subject to the fee, city officials said.

That little white ticket under your windshield wiper might seem like an annoyance, but to the City of Hagerstown, it a way to raise the revenue needed to maintain parking facilities. Tickets for parking violations in the city brought in $164,099 during the 1999 fiscal year that ended June 30, according to city Finance Director Al Martin. That was $14,383 more than parking ticket revenues for the 1998 fiscal year, and almost double the $85,774 paid by parking violators in fiscal 1995.

Downtown Hagerstown holiday shoppers will get a 30-minute grace period for expired parking meters starting Monday, Dec. 7. This is the third year in a row the city has provided the grace period, said City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman. The grace period will last through Friday, Dec. 25, Zimmerman said. Notes will be left on the windshields of cars parked at expired meters notifying drivers of the 30 extra minutes they've been granted before a parking ticket is issued, he said.

Convicted killer speaks on own behalf CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Gary L. Rock represented himself and briefly took the stand Thursday in his effort to get first-degree murder convictions dismissed on double jeopardy grounds. Rock, 43, twice convicted for the 1977 shooting deaths of neighbor Wilbur Brookens and Fayetteville Volunteer Fire Co. Chief James W. Cutchall, is trying to prove the prosecution concealed evidence that could have led to charges being dismissed after a federal court overturned his 1978 conviction.

Downtown Hagerstown holiday shoppers will get a 30-minute grace period for expired parking meters starting Monday, Dec. 8. City Council members unanimously approved the program on Tuesday. This will be at least the second year for the grace period, said City Administrator Bruce Zimmerman. The grace period will last through Friday, Dec. 26, according to a memo from Police Chief Dale J. Jones to Zimmerman. A note will be left on the windshields of cars parked at expired meters notifying drivers of the 30 extra minutes they've been granted before a parking ticket is issued, officials said.

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Liquor could be served earlier on some days in Washington County and later on others, under legislative requests made by the Washington County Restaurant and Beverage Association. The association also is asking for a grace period at closing time so that county bars can have 15 minutes to clear their establishments of customers. "Basically what we're saying is to clear up a gray area," Lou Thomas, spokesman for the beverage association, said Friday during a presentation of proposed legislation to the county's delegation in the General Assembly.

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Many Maryland residents were surprised this week when they discovered they could still make local calls by dialing seven digits, despite numerous warnings from Bell Atlantic that doing so would be impossible. Consider it a sort of technological stay of execution, but only a temporary one. "It's not going to last. That's one reason we told (customers), 'Please, don't think you can stick with the seven-digit dialing,'" said Bell Atlantic spokeswoman Sandra Arnette.

Tim Rowland Herald-Mail columnist I want all you kids out there at Williamsport High to know that I am behind you 100 percent in fighting the school dress code. One word of warning though. Twenty years from now, when your own kids find your yearbook in some old trunk and start picking you out in all the old photos, you are going to WISH there had been a dress code. I say this because 25 years ago when I was in grade school, the big fashion items were hideous, fringed part-suede, part-vinyl vests that looked like sort of a cross between Daniel Boone and Disco Duck.